July

We love summer! After our trip to Charleston, this is what we have been up to:
Reagan wore one of my dresses from when I was a little girl.

OK, really, another one too:

We have a year-long pass to the zoo, which we have loved!

Playing in the pool at our friend's house:

Reagan practiced sitting up:

So that when we go to the store, the kids can sit like this:

This makes mommy's life so much easier!
We also love summer nights, so we go outside to enjoy the nice weather!

 And to practice sitting up more:

Now, we have started our potty training adventures:

Wish us luck!

Charleston

OK, so I am a little late! But we went to Charleston at the beginning of the month for Chris's family reunion. It was a WONDERFUL trip! It was HOT, and HUMID! But we still had a lot of fun. Right before the trip, Emily was diagnosed with cancer, so it was a much-needed reprieve for that Rusch family too!
As is typical with us (SIGH), getting to where we needed to be was, in fact, eventful! We got to the airport too late, and had to fly into Atlanta instead of Charleston. This was (kind of . . . ok, major) a pain, and ended up costing us a TON in a car rental! Dang! Fortunately, we do have somewhere to stay in Atlanta. On top of all the fun, Davis got carsick and puked three times from Atlanta to Charleston, which also was not fun.

So, here are our Fourth of July pictures:

 Davis throwing rocks in a puddle after his third puking incident. Poor kid!

Reagan's cute Fourth of July outfit!
OK, so we were finally there. :) Emily found this nice little spot for us, which was super close to the beach, and just awesome all around!
We went to church and hung out on Sunday. On Monday, we went to the Charleston Museum, and the Visitor's Center.

 Playing with stickers that were in his "pack-pack-pack"

 Kids at the museum

The museum had some fun games for the kids!
We did some shopping on Tuesday

 This is one of my favorite pictures ever!

 There was a rainstorm on our way home. Davis loved it!

As you can tell, there were some pretty fun toys at the mall!
We went to the slave market the next morning

 They don't sell slaves there any more, thankfully!

This is Davis's attempt at staying cool. The only coolish place he could find was the ground, so he laid on it!
Jon and Emily arrived, and we had some pool time!

 Matt got candy cigarettes at the slave market

Davis would not get all the way in the pool! Silly boy!

Then we went to Patriot's Point to see the ships and submarines.

Not sure where Reagan is in this picture. Hmmm. . . .

Can I mention that from here on out, it was UNBELIEVABLY HOT? I wanted to die!!
The next day, we went to Fort Sumter. As someone who has visited quite a few Civil War battle sites, I have usually been overwhelmed by the size on most of the battle sites. However, for this one, I was underwhelmed. It is really just a small fort that is built on a sandbar, not even an island, in the ocean.
Oh, and it was still unbelievably hot!

That night, we went to Rainbow Road and saw the beautiful houses in the Charleston area. Davis felt the need to sit on most of the steps of the homes.

The next day, we played in the ocean in the morning.

 Look! Reagan sitting up!

And when it went from hot to unbearably hot, we went to the aquarium

And on our way home, we got to sit in first class. This is a good way for airlines to advertise paying more for first class. It. Was. Awesome!

Overall, a wonderful trip! Great to be with family! Great to see Charleston! Davis and George were little buddies, which was awesome! We loved it!